Lorraine Motel
Lorraine Motel is a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. April 4, 1968—the balcony where Dr. King was shot. Its signature presence is Martin Luther King Jr. — the figure the file’s accounts keep returning to. The dossier holds 1 reported claim, 1 legend, 1 documented fact and 1 named or described presence — documented record and retelling kept side by side. The site is open to visitors.
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Is Lorraine Motel haunted?
The record holds 1 claim, 1 legend, 1 named entity — filed as reported, not verified. The heaviest filing is classed local folklore. The archive documents the claim; it takes no position on the ghost.
The record — long form
The Lorraine Motel is where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed — the Memphis motel where the civil rights leader stood on the balcony outside Room 306 on April 4, 1968, and James Earl Ray's bullet found him, the site now preserved as the National Civil Rights Museum.
The file's documented spine is the assassination's weight: a motel that became a shrine, Room 306 kept as it was, the balcony where the country's conscience was shot becoming the place where that conscience is exhibited.
The balcony
The lore reports a presence on the balcony and in Room 306 — the file's haunting being the most sacred in the archive: the spot where King died reportedly still holding him, the preserved room keeping a presence that the museum's visitors feel.
The balcony's presence is the file's signature — a site of national mourning reportedly keeping the man the nation mourns, the Lorraine's haunting being the country's grief made physical.
Why this file matters
The Lorraine is the archive's most solemn file — the motel where King was killed, keeping a presence on the balcony that the preserved room makes sacred. The documented assassination is the record; the lingering is the lore of a loss that never ended.
A motel that held a martyr keeps him — the file's suggestion being that Room 306's door still opens to the balcony where the country's better angel stood.
The National Civil Rights Museum is a complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis, Tennessee; its exhibits trace the history of the civil rights movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. The museum is built around the former Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Two other buildings and their adjacent property, also connected with the King assassination, have been acquired as part of the museum complex. After renovations, the museum reopened in 2014 with an increase in the amount of multimedia and interactive displays, as well as various short films to show highlights. The museum is owned and operated by the Lorrain
National Civil Rights MuseumThe record of claims
Visitors and staff report a presence on the balcony and in room 306. The figure answers to Martin Luther King Jr. in the retellings. The hotel keeps the account on its own record — the sort of haunting a building earns one guest at a time. It survives as local folklore, which is to say it survives because people keep telling it. The report is preserved in sources like 'Lorraine Motel'. It is the sighting the place is known for, and it hasn't stopped.
Visitors and staff report a presence on the balcony and in room 306. The hotel keeps the account on its own record — the sort of haunting a building earns one guest at a time. The claim is neighborhood knowledge — retold locally, verified nowhere. Sources including 'Lorraine Motel' keep the claim in circulation. The tale is the site's other archive — oral, embroidered, and outlasting the documents.
Alleged entities
Visitors and staff report a presence on the balcony and in room 306. The presence goes by Martin Luther King Jr.. The hotel keeps the account on its own record — the sort of haunting a building earns one guest at a time. 'Lorraine Motel' carries the account. Named presences persist where anonymous reports fade — the file's name here is Martin Luther King Jr..
Documented history
The April 4, 1968 assassination is documented; the site is the National Civil Rights Museum. The documented date is 1968-04-04. The hotel in Memphis, Tennessee has its past on record — this entry belongs to that verified layer. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. The record appears in 'Lorraine Motel'. The record keeps it — history, not lore.
Sources on file
- 01Lorraine MotelWikipedia · encyclopedia · A4
Field notes & open questions
Dark-history/ghost-town batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.